The last worship service for Downtown Phoenix Church was held 4pm in the corner of Fair Trade Cafe. We had worship, teaching and communion while others sat sipping coffee, working on laptops, and shooting us a bewildered eye every few minutes. You need to remember, Fair Trade Cafe wasn’t closed down for us, we were their guests, among all the normal patrons. This, at first, was awkward, but quickly I settled in my mind that God has opened this door and the worship songs we prepared, God was going to use in a powerful way.
“The music this last Sunday was particularly poignant and heartfelt.” Pastor Jim Helman said in an email to me after the service, “I felt your testimony and choice of music was spot-on.”
God indeed moved in a powerful way. A lady came up to me after the set and said the song I spoke about in the set was the very song God used to give her hope with substance abuse and give her strength to check into rehab just a week earlier.
Also, two baristas on duty stayed involved in everything we did the entire time. They admitted she had been looking forward to seeing this thing we do when her boss asked their to take the shift when we’d be having church. We talked and she described how important her faith was to her. The time there has opened a window now for a continued conversation.The one man who had been there the entire time I was setting up, engaged in the worship.
And, after we concluded, another man sought out David Zook (the guest teacher) and Pastor Jim to chat for a while. His life, like so many, hadn’t been easy and recent events had only left things worse. He was looking for work but he had fallen short trying to get his feet back underneath himself. Conversations with him led pastor Jim to understand that this was just one of those situations that calls for a Christian to step into. Feeling the heat outside, it was way too hot yesterday to be without water and shelter. Jim fetched him down to Sing High Restaurant where we store our equipment. The partnership meant I had help to carry the equipment in while he now had help for a meal. Conversation and thirty minutes later, Jim had him on a Greyhound bus bound back to family in California. Keep in mind, all of this in Fair Trade Cafe.
“It’s messy having church out in front of people.” Pastor Jim says, “You can often tell that not only are you speaking to a person in front of you, you often have a second person watching over the shoulder. And sometimes, the story is more about one’s action than about words.”
Every other week I help DTPHXCHURCH. A lot of people have simply stopped coming to church so it’s their mission to take church to them. Join us, check the dates here. Embrace the awkward.
I like the way you described the church. So impressed with what you guys are doing!